A Good Year For German Eiswein

by Deidre Woollard (RSS feed)
Jan 1st 2008 at 12:03PM

Fans of German eiswein will be in luck this year, the cold weather in Germany this December has made it a great harvest for the grapes left on the vine to be picked for eiswein. Decanter reports that on the icy mornings of December 18 and 19 in the Mosel and Rhein regions most of the grapes were picked, southern regions had to wait a few more days. In order to harvest grapes for eiswein temperatures have to dip way below freezing ((19°F) for at least three hours. The grapes are pressed while still frozen, resulting in a sweet elixir. The last couple of years have been rough for eiswein with a couple of mild winters, such as the one in 2006, making growers unwilling to risk waiting for a potential harvest.

[via Rockss and Fruit]

Tags: eiswein, germany, ice wine, mosel, rhein